Chocolate and Pistachio French Toast with Warm Maple Syrup

Long, lazy mornings is what we are enjoying at the moment. No hectic, no meetings, no stress to get anywhere and the feeling is good. Christmas weekend came and went and the tumultuous celebrations of the three days with gift wrapping, roast cooking and tree decorating lie behind us. We’re letting our souls dangle in the sheer luxury of time wasting and the opulence of big and extravagant breakfasts.

The house is serene without the commotion of our everyday routine. The attire of choice are comforting pyjamas as we lounge on the sofa reading the newspapers extensively instead of browsing through the headlines hastily. Steaming cups of spiced earthy flavored Pu-erh tea infused with cardamom, soothes and warms us from the inside but it also teases our appetite.

While Tom brews a strong pot of coffee, crushing some cardamom to add into the thick dark liquid, the scents of my favorite spice brings back a thousand memories.

Growing up I would love the weekends as my mother would often prepare a typical "sweet” breakfast as we called it. Usually pancakes or crepes flavored with whatever took her fancy served with fresh fruits and warm maple syrup. Or sweetened scrambled eggs! Oh how I loved those spread on a buttery toast and enjoyed with some hot chocolate. What I loved the most however was French toast and till today my mouth begins to water by the mere mention of this conventional breakfast.

Nowadays, a “sweet” breakfast with French toast has become our luxury in which we indulge in when we are feeling decadent with time. It replaces the granola and the spelt grain roll with honey and quick coffee, consumed during the week.

When outside the icy wind blows across the snow covered fields and the red sun rises like a fire- ball out of the sky, we are inside warming ourselves with hot spiced coffee and delicious French toast and because it’s all about chocolate at this time of year (actually at all times of the year), I sandwich a thin layer of dark chocolate spread before dipping the slices of brioche bread in the egg batter.

Breakfast has always been an important meal for both Tom and me. We try never to skip it and even though breakfast during the week happens in haste we make sure it is balanced and healthy for Soeren and us. The weekends provide for a little more time and we enjoy a breakfast of champions with eggs, sausages, fruit and rolls, but the holidays allow us to be self-indulgent and we live on the sweeter side of life. It’s our luxurious repose!

I love using certain types of Viennoiserie for my French toast, challah or brioche being my favorite choices. Here I have used Brioche Nanterre, which provides a marvelous flavor and richness. Watch the smiles all around as thick dark chocolate spread is slathered on a slice and sandwiched before the dipping. I add no sugar to the batter itself and use plain milk for the batter and serve with a crunchy topping of pistachios and warmed maple syrup.

Spread a generous layer of dark chocolate spread on 4 of the brioche slices, then sandwich with the remaining 4. Cut diagonally and place each sandwiched triangle in a large shallow dish.

In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, milk and spices and pour over the sandwiched brioche. Leave to soak for at least half an hour. Alternatively, you can leave to soak in the fridge overnight.

Heat butter in a large frying pan and cook the brioche-chocolate sandwich triangles, for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown and cooked through. Keep warm in a low oven and repeat until all the brioche sandwiches are cooked.

Arrange on a platter scattered with chopped pistachios. Heat the maple syrup on low in the microwave and serve drizzled over the chocolate and pistachio French toast.

We’re holding on to the last few days of 2010 before we welcome the new year. As 2011 kicks off we’ll be back into the core of the hustle and bustle of the regular routine. Soeren and his school, Tom back in Berlin and me back at work and other assignments so we are not looking ahead, instead we are kicking back and charging our batteries with family time and long lazy breakfasts.

I’d like to send this delicious chocolate breakfast to Ria who is my hostess for this month’s Monthly Mingle – Chocolate Extravaganza. Thank you Ria for hosting the event and by what I have seen already we’ve got some truly extravagant chocolate treats. Make sure you tune in for the round up coming soon.

I am not one to start a new year with resolutions as I believe if you want to change something in your life then there is no better time to do it then the now. What I do have are plans and goals and I hope to work towards them to my best ability.

Have you set any goals and plans that you would like to work towards in 2011?

I’d like to wish everyone who takes time to come to What’s For Lunch, Honey? and shares this piece of my world with me a very Happy New Year. Hope you have a safe and blessed start to 2011 and may the new year bring you joy, health and that you achieve all your goals.

I’ll see you next year and hope you will join me then as we take a look back at some of the highlights 2010 brought my way.

Brioche with chocolate is already my idea of heaven, but taking that and making it into French toast must just be out of this world! What kind of dark chocolate spread do you generally use when making this?

Wow, Meeta, when you do extravagant and decadent you go all the way! Chocolate and brioche for an already decadent French toast. I can imagine how wonderful this is as you enjoy it slowly with the gorgeous white snow outside your window, building up the strength to go out and spend your day shoveling :-) Your story brought back memories of waking up on winter Sunday mornings in Florida to a big pot of warming steaming oatmeal, my favorite luxury, my mom's best treat to us. Nowadays, French toast is our luxury but never for breakfast but rather as a lunchtime treat. Beautiful post, darling sister, and hope your holidays are wonderful! xo

I'm very envious of this breakfast, it looks far more exciting than the weetabix we've been eating (even if that was chocolate flavour weetabix too!) - hats off you to doing something exciting for breakfast this week, I've been too exhausted!

Chocolate & pistachio is one of my fave combinations...and finding it here makes it even better! Hang on to 2010 dearest, coz my grip is slackening & it's racing away! Have a wonderful 2011... much love to you!! xo

Ah, beautiful! I actually wonder if this would make an entrancing ice cream flavor? I'm thinking about trying that out...the maple, choc, pistachio? Little pieces of egg brioche? Yum, thanks for the inspiration!

I made these yesterday morning for breakfast and though I did change a few things (like substituted the bread with whatever bread I had, and the chocolate spread was more of a syrup), it turned out awesome. My husband loved it so much that I had to make them again for dinner. Thank you so much for the awesome recipe. This one is a keeper at my place for sure.

Thank you for visiting What's For Lunch, Honey? and taking time to browse through my recipes, listen to my ramblings and enjoy my photographs. I appreciate all your comments, feedback and input. I will answer your questions to my best knowledge and respond to your comments as soon as possible.

In the meantime I hope you enjoy your stay here and that I was able to make this an experience for your senses.

Hello, I am Meeta a freelance food photographer, stylist and writer living in the cuturally rich city of Weimar, Germany with my husband and our son, where I enjoy preparing multi-cultural home cooked meals with fresh organic ingredients. What's for lunch, Honey? is my award winning food blog where I combine my love for food with my love for photography and styling...